Max has had a tremendous amount of progress in the last month. We are starting to hear more words (like "hot dog", "red", and "yellow"). His eye contact is a lot more consistent, he is mastering puzzles and shape sorting toys, he is responding to more signs (like "milk", "stop", and "play"). We've also noticed that he is tolerating his sister a lot more, though he is not a big fan of her new found voice (she tends to babble VERY loudly).
At daycare he has started to join the other kids during "tidy up time", and even applauded a little girl and said "yeah" to her when he saw her playing appropriately with a toy. This made me howl with laughter, because we are always giving positive reinforcement to him for appropriate play, and he is turning it around on us now. He is also napping without waking up screaming, which his teachers really appreciate. We also don't have to strap him into his stroller to take him places anymore - he will walk calmly and hold our hands without objecting and falling to the ground in a tantrum. He will spend a half hour doing sticker arts and crafts with me (he made his own Valentine's this year), and he will play roll/catch the ball with us, taking appropriate turns for as long as we are willing to play.
With the gains, there are always a few challenges as well, but I don't want to focus on those, as I find these "negative" behaviours typically only last a short period of time. As long as we ignore them, he will eventually tire of them and find something else to do to get our attention. Over all, we are very pleased to see that having him in 8 hours of therapy a week is helping him progress. These new gains make my credit card bill hurt a little less at the end of the month. He is worth it, and we will get him all the help he needs, whatever the cost.
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Awesome, Katrina. You guys are amazing. I can't even imagine ... Max is so fortunate to have such a loving (and stubborn) mom ;)
ReplyDeleteLove ya!
Vanessa
fuck yeah!
ReplyDeleteim really glad for max, i am sure there will be more bad moments, but the trend seems to be towards better and that's really really great.
i also want to congratulate both to you and Scott for doing things i both cannot imagine doing and am terrified of having to deal with (sorry for this unnecessary honesty)
say halo to max.
japaja